This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Northwest Falls to .500 in a Blowout Loss

St. Charles shut down the Lions' outside shooting game to forge ahead.

St. Charles High School took the court Saturday afternoon against the Northwest High School Lions in a GAC/Suburban Basketball Challenge matchup at the Family Arena. The Pirates of St. Charles shutdown Northwest's outside shooting game while putting together a balanced attack of their own as they cruised to a 69-45 victory.

Both teams ended the day at .500 on the season as the Lions fell to 3-3 with the loss while the Pirates improved to 4-4 with the win.

Pirates' Coach Rick Foster cited the game as the top performance for his squad this season. "We shut down their key players and I think we played as well today sharing the ball as we have all year," said Foster.

Find out what's happening in Fenton-High Ridgewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

St. Charles' offensive charge was distributed evenly between sophomore guard Corey Whiteside, who had 19 points including three 3-pointers and senior guard TJ Short, who scored 18 points and was strong in the paint.

After the game Short echoed his coach's comments on the win, "We played as a team, followed our scouting report and our strength came from sharing the ball."

Find out what's happening in Fenton-High Ridgewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Throughout the contest the Lions attempted to establish an outside shooting game, beginning early with a pair of 3-point attempts that failed to drop.  The trend continued all afternoon as Northwest managed only one 3-pointer despite numerous attempts including five in the first quarter alone.

And while Northwest was unable to connect offensively the Pirates struck for six field goals early on and led 17-6 at the end of the first quarter.

The Lions saw their strongest results in the second quarter scoring 19 points behind senior forward Adam Wilkinson and senior guard Caleb Day. Wilkinson was strong on the boards cleaning up several rebounds during the game but beyond the second quarter his efforts did not lead to baskets by Northwest.

Whiteside hit a pair of 3-pointers in the second quarter to soften the Lions comeback attempt and Short provided strong rebounding at both ends of the court.

St. Charles led 35-25 at the end of the first half.

Holding a double digit lead the Pirates could afford to be patient in the second half and they worked their offense efficiently as Whiteside added his final 3-pointer of the game as the second half begun and senior forward Cid Strickland added a basket on a layup as the Pirates stretched their lead to 40-27.

The Lions saw little scoring production from other than free-throws as the second half progressed.  Northwest made eight trips to the foul line in the third quarter.

By contrast St. Charles saw balanced offensive production including a short-range basket and a 3-pointer from senior guard Matt Mitchell.

The Pirates led 54-37 at the end of the third quarter.

The fourth quarter of the game produced no surprises as Northwest's offense continued to struggle, adding only eight points, and the Pirates were able to rest some of their starters and get playing time for other members of the team.

St. Charles scored 15 points in the final quarter on baskets by sophomore guard Jack Gallagher and center Jordan Schlueter.  Northwest saw Day continue his solid individual performance with a field goal and two free-throws but it was too little too late as the game drew to a conclusion.

Northwest will attempt to bounce back with a trip to the Seckman High School tournament next week where they'll face Francis Howell North.  St. Charles High School will next take on Parkway South in the MICDS tournament.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Fenton-High Ridge